June Flashback

June started out with our SIX YEAR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY on June 4th! We celebrated by attending a wedding, of course. We had originally hoped to go on a big trip for our anniversary since it fell on a weekend but since the Lord blessed me with my new job, vacation time is not an option yet; plus, as mentioned, we were preparing for a big event at work. So, we went to a wedding and then drove through Andy's Frozen Custard and rented a movie. Regardless, we celebrated our love and how far God has brought us over the years. And pray for many more years of learning, loving and growing together!

June 12th I was on my way to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for my first ever RCI Annual Convention & Confectionery Industry Expo. The convention and tradeshow are the entire week so we left on Sunday and returned Friday night (by the hair on our heads we made our flights!). My first RCI event was fantastic. The whole week I'm pretty sure I was asleep by 2 a.m. and back downstairs by about 6:30 a.m. but I was going on adrenaline. The people of RCI and in the confectionery industry are fantastic and I couldn't ask for more!

While there, of course, we had one night to quickly do some touristy things so we had dinner at the famous Primanti Brothers. Yes, it's a turkey sandwich that has fries on it and then it was cooked on a griddle. Delish!

The first night we got to attend a Pirates game with a bunch of RCI folk. To get back to the hotel we rode a boat across the river. The pic below is not great quality but you get the picture. :)

The Monongahela Incline is a must while in Pittsburgh! The view at night was spectacular.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to do some traveling while working and to meet and work with so many great people. And yes, I (and my family and friends!) enjoy the chocolate too. :)

May Flashback

**I started this post over a month ago and hadn't published it because I needed to take time to rotate the photos. Well, I still haven't done it but I'm publishing it anyways. :)  Enjoy the sideways photos! :)

My mouth just dropped! How in the world am I so many months behind on this!? I'm sorry, friends. When I'm on the computer all day at work (not complaining because I still love it there, thank You Lord!), I just don't feel like more computer time when I get home. Tonight I opened my personal email and my Google reader and I have 60+ email messages to sift through and 780 unread items in my reader. Now, mind you, many of those emails are those daily deals emails which don't do me any good if I don't read them on a daily basis to see what deals are out there. :)

Anyhow, here is a good catch-up post for you and I've already got two more in the works. :)  As far as life now goes, we are doing so great and couldn't be more thankful for God's faithfulness.

Flashback time!
May for me was very busy at work as we prepared for our June Annual Convention to be held in Pittsburgh. At the end of the month, Daniel and I took a road trip to visit our friends that had come to Ozark/Springfield in April. On our way to Illinois we made sure to stop by a Nicaraguan restaurant we'd found online a while back ago, Fritanga.

We also had to visit one of the chocolatiers of the association I work for that happened to be just down the street. (sorry, no chocolate pictures. We ate it all! :) )  But here are the pics of our food. It really was delicious!!

Our time with Shane, Brittany and kids was even sweeter than the chocolate. ;)  You might remember

from my April flashback that they have three kids (and now a fourth on the way!). It was truly a blessing to watch them and the godly way they are parenting their children. We learned a ton about what Biblical parenting looks like and were very encouraged and challenged in our own lives. And Daniel was a big help, jumping in to entertain and help out whenver and however needed. That was a blessing to me, for sure, and hopefully to them as well. We're so thankful for the gift of these friends!